Effect of Feeding Sweet Sorghum Bagasse Silage with or without Chopping on Nutrient Utilization in Deccani Sheep

Abstract

The present study was carried out to explore the option to utilize the ensiled sweet sorghum bagasse (SSB), an agro-industrial byproduct of ethanol industry. The fresh material-whole (35–84 cm length) and chopped (1.5–2.0 cm) was ensiled without any addition of moisture or additives. Ensiling of SSB for 30d period resulted in good quality silage as assessed by the appearance and smell. Twelve Deccani male lambs of 10–12 months old, six in each group were randomly assigned to the two treatments, chopped SSB silage and unchopped SSB silage with supplementation of 150g concentrate mixture. The daily average DM consumption per 100 kg BW was 2.29 and 2.39 kg for the unchopped and chopped SSB silage based rations, respectively, varying non-significantly due to chopping. The DM and CF digestibility of unchopped SSB silage based ration was significantly (P<0.05) higher compared to chopped SSB silage based ration. There was no significant difference observed between the OM, CP, EE, NFE and fibre digestibilities as well as N balance of two experimental rations. Unchopped and chopped SSB silage based rations contained 10.68, 61.34 and 11.66, 59.55% DCP, TDN, respectively, with the corresponding ME values of 9.28 and 9.01 MJ/kg DM. The male lambs met the maintenance nutrient requirements (ICAR, 1998). The present study indicated that, the fresh SSB could be conserved as silage without any additives and fed to sheep with supplementation of concentrate as maintenance ration.